West Champaran (Bihar): As Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yarta enters the second phase and is said to be getting a nationwide positive response, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday, hinted at launching a country-wide yatra after the Budget session of the Bihar Legislative Assembly this year to unite the opposition parties for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Interacting with media persons on the first day of his 'Samadhan Yatra' in Garua Badi village in West Champaran district, Kumar said, “First of all, the work which is pending in the state will be completed. Right now Samadhan Yatra is going on and after completing it in January, I will go on a country-wide tour in February. But the Budget session is in February, only after that I will start the tour.”
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On RJD vice-president Shivanand Tiwari's suggestion to postpone the Samadhan Yatra due to the extremely cold weather in the state, Nitish Kumar said cold weather will not affect the yatra as he took part in many yatras when he was a Union Minister. "At present, I am focusing on Samadhan Yatra to review the development programs of the state government.
" Let me finish this yatra first and then I will think of going on a yatra across the country after the budget session," the Chief Minister said. Kumar launched his Samadhan Yatra from West Champaran district on Thursday and he will conclude on January 29. In the yatra, he is being accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Sanjay Kumar Jha at Valmiki Nagar.
Nitish's comment has created a buzz in the political circle Nitish has pledged to unite the opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Last year in September Nitish undertook a tour during which he met several leaders of the opposition including Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi. However, his visit was confined to the national capital only, and he met only those leaders who were available in Delhi.
Apart from Rahul Gandhi, the Bihar CM had met JD(S) chief H D Kumar, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja, CMI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, NCP Sharad Pawar and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala.
After snapping the ties with BJP in Bihar and forming the government with RJD, Nitish is continuously emphasizing on uniting all the opposition parties. The JD(U) leaders at the same time had been claiming that Nitish has all the 'caliber' to be the Prime Ministerial candidate.
However, Nitish has always played down the political buzz of becoming the prime ministerial candidate. He has rejected the speculation saying that he was not the contender for the post nor he has any desire or aspiration to become the Prime Minister. Nitish keeps on reiterating that he is just making an honest attempt to unite the opposition.
But the latest statement of Nitish has made things more clear now that he would be challenging PM Narendra Modi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi made a veiled attack on CM's nationwide tour claiming that nobody will give any value to his nationwide tour.
“As far as the nationwide tour is concerned nobody can stop but what matters the most is no one will take notice of it, nobody will give any value to him. Whom will he unite? Mamata Banerjee is not with him. Will KCR accept him as his leader? Can CPI(M) and Congress sit together in Kerala? Arvind Kejriwal has already announced that he will not make alliances with any political parties. Opposition parties are already scattered and they can never be united. Let Nitish make all the attempts, and let him utilize the helicopter of Rs 250 crores. Opposition parties are dead horses and life cannot be given to them. His attempt will be futile,” Modi said in Patna.
The Bihar Assembly budget session will commence on February 25 and will end on March 31, 2023. Nitish will be touring all 38 districts of Bihar during his ongoing Samadhan Yatra and will cover 19 districts in the first phase.
